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What is the subaltern of the comparative philosophy of religion?

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journal contribution
posted on 2003-07-01, 00:00 authored by Purushottama Bilimoria
It is claimed that Comparative Philosophy of Religion (CPR) mistakenly builds on the dogmas of comparative religion (or history of religions) and philosophy of religion. Thus, the belief that there are things common and therefore comparable between two or more traditions and that these objects of comparison are of philosophical or theological significance are questions that continue to trouble the field. Just what does one compare, how does one choose what to compare or why, through what methodological and epistemic tools, and who is it that carries out the tasks? But what has remained unasked and unanalyzed are the larger meta-questions concerning the motivation, civilizational presuppositions, cultural parochialism, or legacies of orientalism, modernity, and (post-)colonialism that together affect the boundedness of certain key categories and thematic issues in the comparative enterprise such as God or the Transcendent, Creation, the Problem of Evil, the Afterlife, Sin, Redemption, Purpose, and the End. Is difference with respect to alterity and altarity permissible? If so, what a postcolonial, differently gendered, cross-cultural critique would look like and what is left of CPR are two such questions explored here.<br>

History

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Location

Honolulu, T.H.

Open access

  • Yes

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal; C Journal article

Copyright notice

2003, University of Hawaii Press

Journal

Philosophy east and west

Volume

53

Pagination

340 - 366

ISSN

0031-8221

eISSN

1529-1898

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